According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the number of people who contracted the infection in the first half of the month was more than double the number of new infections in the United States, the second most affected country.
Such has been the surge in daily increase in cases that India added 1 million Covid cases in a record time of 11 days in September.
While India added 13.08,991 cases in the 15-day period, the United States recorded 5.57,657 cases and Brazil, which ranks third on this list, recorded 4.83,299 cases.
India also tops the list of deaths that have occurred due to the virus during this period. While India lost 16,307 lives in the 15-day period, the United States and Brazil recorded 11,461 and 11,178 deaths, respectively.
However, when it comes to the death rate during this 15-day period, India with a value of 1.25 is in the eighth position. Mexico, Colombia and Peru occupy the top three positions on the list.
The increase in numbers is partly due to the progressive increase in testing for Covid-19, which touched the 5.8 crore mark on September 15. It took India 27 days to double its test capacity from 1 crore to 2 crore, but it only took 10 days to jump from 4 crore tests to 5 crore tests.
Five states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) account for 60% of the total active cases in the country.
While the Covid figures from India are alarming, they could have been worse.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Tuesday that blocking Covid-19 across the country prevented approximately 14 to 29 lakhs of cases and 37,000 to 78,000 deaths.
Delving into the advantage of the lockdown, the Director General of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Dr. Balram Bhargava, said that India has been able to “distribute the curve” compared to other nations that saw a spike.
“We distributed the curve in such a way that we did not have that large number of deaths and that was scientifically attributable due to a very effective lockdown that was imposed in the months of late March, April and May. So we really did not have a big peak since that perspective, “he said.
Another statistic that may provide us with some relief in these troubling times is that India’s Covid-19 recovery rate has risen to 78.28%. A total of 38,59,399 people have recovered, surpassing active cases of Coronavirus by 28,69,338 as of September 15, according to the Union Ministry of Health.
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